Quirky, Amazing Photos of Parents and Their Children

Since the 1980s, photographer Bruce Osborn has shot over 3,500 portraits of Japanese parents and their children in his signature minimalist, black and white setup for his Oyako series. It’s some of the most diverse and engaging portraiture that we’ve come across: rockin’ duos where we can’t tell who is the mum and who’s the daughter; stone faced sushi chef father checking the food of his sushi chef son; beaming housewives with their musician sons; a young schoolgirl with her completely tattooed parents in tow. The series is so dear to Osborn’s heart, that he founded Oyako Day — a day celebrating the parent child bond which takes place annually on the fourth Sunday of July, and is now in its 10th year. Osborn tells us that an Oyako photo book and a documentary film about Oyako Day are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. Meanwhile, see some of these portraits in our slideshow below, unless you’re near the Shizoka City Museum to catch the exhibition.